A senior lawyer was today warning that Britain could become a "police state" if the scales of justice were "unbalanced".

A senior lawyer was today warning that Britain could become a "police state" if the scales of justice were "unbalanced".

Bar chairman David Bean QC was making the comments after Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir John Stevens labelled the criminal justice system "appalling".

But Mr Bean, who was addressing students of criminal justice at Portsmouth University, said: "But if we did unbalance the scales of justice we would, before long, be on the slippery slope to a police state.

"My members prosecute and defend in equal measure. They want a system that convicts the guilty and acquits the innocent."